The fastest way to drain a spa

[spageek]

I simply put my wet/dry shop vac hose in the spa, and turn the vacuum on. Once the water starts flowing, I pull the hose off the shop vac and let the siphon do the rest. If I keep the wand on the end of the hose, and I can then "vacuum" the sand off the bottom while it drains. The 2" shop vac hose has it empty in less than 5 minutes. When the siphon stops, I can connect the hose back up to the shop vac and finish vacuuming the seats and other areas where the water gets trapped.

I bought a 6ft extension hose to things easier, and also taped the joints with black electrical tape to keep it from sucking air.

On a water changing side note, a friend of mine puts his pool cleaning hose over a spa jet while the pump is running, and his wife de-ices the deck with the other end. Seemed to me like a good use for 100'f water that would just have been dumped on the lawn any ways.

 

[chem geek]

Thanks for the tips!

 

[spishex]

I usually use my pool vac hose to drain tubs. The further below the water line you can get the effluent side of the hose, the faster the water will drain, so on tubs that are on a grade the extra hose length really helps.

For tubs on a level surface a shop vac hose or about 3 segments of a suction side APC hose do the trick nicely. Or both if you've got them handy.

But the fastest way I've ever drained a tub was by siphoning with a section of 6" flexible drain tube (like you might connect to your gutter). Took less than five minutes but was too cumbersome to do regularly.